This is the second time I have been burned by this marketer

I recently purchased two programs from Bred Ingram, both of them with the additional resale rights package. In both cases I got burned, and I get no response from his support desk at http://www.thinkbigpublications.com/support/.

Here's what happened.

I bought two packages from Bret, the first one Audible Store Generator and the second Gift Store Generator.

Don't buy these, they do not work!

In both cases, the results were the same. The script would load fine, but during the installation, it would fail.

Now, I'm not a novice when it comes to installing scripts, and I have installed some pretty complicated scripts. These were easy to install. But, they wouldn't work.

Bad coding

Now I want it understood that I am not a programmer. I used to be, but I retired from that field several years ago, and I really don't want to do code. I have never programmed in php, but I used to teach programming, so reading and figuring out code is not a real problem for me. A pain, but not a problem.

So, I started examining the code. The first thing I noticed was that it was an obvious amateur who wrote the code. His techinques were to try things, then comment out what didn't work. Pretty typical of a self-taught programmer, and I can't really fault that because that is how I got my start - way back in the days…. Well, we won't go there.

Just so you understand what I am talking about, suppose you want to build a house. You don't have a blueprint, just an idea. So, you start throwing up walls where you think they should be. Then you discover that one wall isn't in the right place, so you decide to move it. Just to make sure, you leave the original wall there and just paint it over so it doesn't look so bad, then you put up the new wall. Great, the new wall is in just the right place. But you're lazy, so you never take down the old wall. It just sits there, taking up space. That is the kind of code I am looking at. Unplanned code with the old walls still sitting there, just not being used. Not good coding technique. But it will work.

However, this doesn't work.

First problem

After loading the script, I am told to go out and download the data file that contains the books or gifts that will be in the stores. Audible books crashes right there. The file the program is looking for does not exist. I complained to Brad, but got no response. The gift store at least was able to download the file.

Next step was to upload the data file to my server. Well, that worked for the gift store, but of course it wouldn't work for the audio store. I manually downloaded the file from the server and converted it to the proper format, so I now have my data file on both my sites.

Step 3. Break the file into chunks? Huh? After digging through the code, I figured out what was going on, but could never get it to work. This portion is supposed to take the data, break it apart and put it in the various locations in the database so it can then be displayed correctly in the store. Here is where I ran intlo the

Second problem

The program had taken the database I had created, then added it's own tables and fields for the data. Unfortunately, the field names in the script do not match the field names in the database, so of course it won't work.

But there are other issues too. Because step 3 doesn't work, of course step 4 can't synchronize the database, whatever that is doing. I haven't gotten that far into the code because I'm still trying to get step 3 to work. For the moment I have given up in disgust.

Only sell what you have used

One of the key points of selling PLR or affiliate products is to always check out the product before you sell it to someone else. Obviously Bret Ingram has been taking lessons from Cody Moya. They are both selling junk that doesn't work or isn't worth the paper it's printed on. I really don't understand marketers like this. They are getting rich now, but in the long run they will be the losers. If you have not read about Cody's junk, just look at my earlier posts on audio books. Makes some interesting reading.

So far, no support

My latest support ticket was 4 days ago and so far no response. A problem like this, where the product is totally unworkable, should have elicited an immediate response of "Gee, we're sorry you're having problems, we'll look into it." But I've heard nothing. I'll keep banging away at the code to see if I can make it work. If I can, then I'll sell it, with the warning of the places where you should not buy it.

Two places to avoid

Right now the two places to avoid are http://ThinkBigPublications.com and http://www.content-vault.com. I think they are both enterprises of Bret Ingram, so I would just advise you not to buy anything from him. He does not check out what he sells, he is only after the commission.

Why did I buy the second one?

All I can say is that I let my emotions over rule common sense. I knew better, but I looked at the sales page without thinking about the problem I was already having with one of Bret's products, and thought "Wow, just in time for Christmas. A gift store would be a good idea." Yea, right! I am now twice burnt, so I am very shy about anything that Bret offers.

Here's an offer for you

If you are a php programmer, and you would like to look at this code, I'll make you an offer. If you can make the code work and give me a working copy, I'll give you a free copy of the resale rights to the entire package. I paid nearly $100 for the two packages, and they both use the identical script. The only differences are the database interfaces so once you figure out what is wrong in one, you'll have them both fixed.

If you're interested, leave me a comment and I'll get back with you.

Meanwhile, don't buy them, they're defective. They don't work!

Thanks for reading.
This is Phoenix Rising, telling it like it is.

Tags --Internet Marketing

I do not recommend any product from SmartDisk and here's why

If you did not read my original post, you will find it at http://phoenixistellingitlikeitis.com/smartdisk-isnt-this-is-a-do-not-recommend/.

Reader Bas is having similar problems with a recently purchased system and has asked for the rest of the story. For this to make complete sense, you really need to go back to the original post so you know where I ended.

A strange solution

Some companies are penny wise and pound foolish. That merely means that they pinch pennies, worrying about such things as pencils and paper clips, but they waste money on more expensive matters, such as postage and shipping.

After I sent my drive in for repair or replacement, I was informed that they could not ship it back to me in Korea.

I explained to SmartDisk that shipping to an APO is equivalent to shipping within the United States. The costs are from their location to the Army postal system located in Oakland, California. Pretty cheap shipping. But I was told they could not ship via the United States Postal system, they had to use Federal Express. I would need to give them an address within the delivery area of FedEx within the U. S,.

So, to get my drive fixed, I have to pay the shipping. Really good customer service.

After much wrangling back and forth, it was determined that they could ship it to me at my local Korean address by FedEx. Now that makes a lot of sense. Pay and expensive FedEx bill to ship it to Korea when they could save about half the shipping costs by simply mailing it to the APO. Whatever. I sent them my physical address in Korea and the package eventually arrived by FedEx.

All's well that ends well…NOT

I received the drive and it seemed to be working. I formatted it as a Linux drive for speedier network access, but I still had problems accessing it from my computer. Interestingly enough, my wife's computer, which uses the Korean Windows XP SP2 operating system, was able to access it fine. My standard English Windows XP SP2 could not.

Reformat

Well, that was my intention. I would reformat the drive as FAT32 so I could read it through the USB port and just use it as an external drive. A rather expensive option since I had just purchased a 300 gigabyte external fire-wire drive for about half the cost, but I could at least use the drive for more than a paper weight. So I went through the format process. Then I formatted it again. Then one more time just for effect, but every time it told me it still had the Linux format. It refused to format.

Frustrated

I turned the drive off and just left it there. I figured that if nothing else, I could one day remove the drive, put it in another enclosure and reformat the whole thing as FAT32. Meanwhile it just sat there.

Then I made another big mistake

I bought a new laptop computer. But, that is another story. In short, Vista sucks!

But, Vista did seem to handle networking better, so after replacing my office furniture I decided to give the SOHO NAS another try.

After about two days of playing around with it, I finally got it to work. I'm still very cautious about what I put on the drive as I expect it to die at any moment causing me to lose everything I have there. That is not a very comfortable feeling. I have also not tried to use it as a print server yet. I may, when I get some time to play with it again, but since I use an HP All-In-One which requires special drivers, I'm not sure if it will work.

A couple of things have changed

First, in June of this year (2007) SmartDisk was purchased by Verbatim. I don't know if that is good or bad, but it is different. Perhaps their products will improve; however, based on Bas' recent experience, it hasn't happened yet.

The second thing is that the Linux source code is now available for download. I had asked for the source code when I had my problem so that I could rebuild my Linux partition, but was told it was not available. So, that is a good thing. If you, or a friend of yours, is knowledgeable in operating systems, particularly Linux, you can now rebuild your own system without having to return it to the factory.

Of course, if it is under warranty, the best option is to send it back and have it repaired or replaced.

According to Paul Harvey…

…and now you know the rest of the story.

Thanks for reading.
This is Phoenix Rising, telling it like it is.

Tags --Internet Marketing The Bad

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck

I don't care how many ways to try to dress up the duck, it's still a duck. It will never be a swan.

I don't care how may ways you dress up a scam, it will always be a scam.

Is Ty Coughlin's Reverse Funnel System a scam?

I don't know. I've not purchased it, so I can't definitely say so, but there are certain things about the program that give me pause.

It looks like a scam

There is an old saying–

If it looks too good to be true, it is.

When someone tries to dazzle me with brilliance, I have to wonder what he is hiding. One look at the site, and Ty is trying to dazzle me with fancy cars and big houses. My question is, why? If his program is so good, he doesn't need to spread the diamonds in the mud just to get my attention. A good program will stand on its own merit and not need fancy cars to convince me. Three guys with fancy cars and one with an airplane are not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something that will work for the little guy, the guy with the Volkswagen.

The site is just too glitzy to give me good feelings about the program.

It walks like a scam

Ty was a construction worker who was caught up in the corporate rat race. Excuse me? When was the last time you saw a hod carrier (someone who carries the mortar up the ladder for the brick layer) wearing a suit and tie? The corporate rat race is run in a suit and tie, not in blue jeans with a bare chest. So which is it? Construction worker or Corporate executive? Ty can't seem to make up his mind, so he claims both.

Now he's going to teach you how to make $5,000 to $10,000 per week. Not bad. A cool half-million a year. I'll take it. But what's involved?

First off, he doesn't want poor people. In fact, on easy to overlook point is that it will cost about $250 per month just to belong to the system. Let's see, he is going to teach me and 1,000 other people how to make $10,000 a week, or about $40,000 a month. For that he makes $250 per person or $250,000 per month. I think I'll take his job. I make $500,000 a year, he makes $3,000,000. Three million dollars a year, based on my $250 per month. He makes that whether I make money or not. Nice work if you can get it.

It quacks like a scam

One of the first things I do when I run across a program like this is to do some research. So, I dutifully did my search on reverse funnel scam and Ty Coughlin scam and guess what–I found a whole 7#!+load of sites talking about it being a scam. Amazingly enough, every one of them was from someone who had already purchased the system.

As I began to read through the "reviews" I found that they all said the same thing. The only thing that changed was the name of the person writing the review. They were all canned responses to the question "Is it a scam?"

Wow, that make me stop and take another look.

Whenever the duck quacks long and loud telling me he is not a duck, then I know he's a duck.

Why is there so much effort put into trying to convince everyone this program is not a scam? Well, what better way to hide the truth?

I remember an investment program that I was involved in several years ago. Xavier, the person who started the program, took great pains to make sure everyone had proper security on their systems, used a proxy to hide their true identity online, and did all the things that one would expect to protect investors in such a powerful program.

Great pains were taken to convince everyone this was not a scam. All the people involved were convinced it was not a scam, myself included.

I lost about $500,000 when the program suddenly died. There were reports of some who actually committed suicide. People were mortgaging their homes to get in on the program. It was going to make millionaires out of us all. Instead it made a lot of paupers, and for some of us, it was a valuable lesson that has served us well over the intervening years.

If you say it often enough, people will believe it

Ty has done an amazing thing. He has filled the Internet with scam messages that are actually anti-spam messages. Plus, they take up so much of the search engines that any genuine spam messages are lost in the noise. Brilliant. Besides, as people read the messages, they will come to believe that it couldn't really be a scam, not with so many messages saying it isn't.

So, is this a scam?

Right now I'll say I don't really know. But, I'm keeping my money in my pocket. Let me tell you why.

Several years ago, when I was just starting out in the Internet marketing business, I was taken in by a program that said, simply use your credit card and you'll have made the payment before the payment comes due. So, I did, and I didn't. I did use my credit card, but the help I was getting was from college students hired part time to answer a pat list of questions that were non-answers and for the most part worthless. Needless to say, I wasn't able to pay my credit card bill and it caused me a lot of headaches.

So, what does Ty say? Let me quote from his site.

Lucky for you there are your friends (and mine) Mr. "Visa" and Mr. "Master Card" to help bankroll your first couple of weeks in business…. after that your business profits will fund your new business.

In my recent book, 10 Internet Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them, I talk about danger signals in business opportunities. One of them was suggesting you use your credit card to fund a new business venture.

It looks like a scam, it walks like a scam, it quacks like a scam

I'll leave the decision up to you. Is it a scam?

Thanks for reading
This is Phoenix Rising telling it like it is.

 

Tags --Fraud Internet Marketing make money online Ripoff scam The Bad The Internet The Ugly

I purchased The Profit Monster for about $50.

I was a little hesitant at first because I was pretty put off by the web page.

The page had the normal stuff, you know, peel-away ad, pop-over window, that sort of stuff. I personally don't like them, although the peel-away ads aren't bad. At least you have the option to click on the corner of the screen and look at the ad.

But not on The Profit Monster home page. In fact, every time you move the mouse out of the window, the peel away ad activates. Worse, it uses sound. In the first case it was the sound of a baby crying. How annoying. When I would try to scroll down the page, if my mouse strayed outside the window, I heard the baby cry. I finally turned off my sound so I wouldn't have to listen to it.

Then the pop-up box kept asking me to sign up for something. Unfortunately, I couldn't close it. It just stayed on the screen, hiding what I wanted to read. Not a very good way to start a business relationship.

But, I liked what I read.

Normally, I don't pay too much attention to the hype, but his sales letter was good, so i decided to give it a try. After all, it was only $50.

What a mistake!

The site was put together by an amateur. Lots of affiliate links to click in the hopes he might make some money if I buy something. But I won't.

But, I did print out the book. I find it much easier to read a paper book then an online book, so I printed it out and read it from cover to cover just like he recommended.

Strike One!

It was obvious that he wasn't really interested in helping someone start a free affiliate business, even though that is his basic premise. Fact is, only the first portion of the book talked about the free stuff and the majority of the book was presenting paid for services, such as AdWords, most of which carried a nice affiliate profit for the author.

Now that's not all bad, but don't start off by telling me how you are going to help me get started for free, then start talking about spending money.

But it gets worse.

It soon became evident the author isn't any kind of authority. In fact, he knows very little. For example, here are a couple of definitions from his glossary.

Hop link:           The standard format for an Affiliate URL address complete with tracking code
Webmaster:     Another name for a vendor

 If you are going to write a book, at least do some research and find out what things are called.

Then there are the three ways to make a website (if you are a vendor):

(Adobe) takes a lot of time but is lower cost|
(Flash) fast but costs more to implement
(FREE Member's Website) it's very fast, gets you going for free, etc.

Obviously the last option is his own, which he hopes you will join, then upgrade to a paid level. I'm not sure what he means by (Adobe). Maybe he uses the Adobe html editor and doesn't realize that there are other options available. (Flash)? I guess he means building a flash site, but why?

Then he recommends you get a program called "Transmit." A little quick research (about 30 seconds worth) revealed that Transmit is a Mac ftp client. How many users have a Mac? Maybe 10 to 15 percent, so this information is valueless to the vast majority of users. Besides, he would have been better served to have used ftp, rather than just assuming the reader knew what he was talking about.

I was able to make sense out of most of what he said because I've been at this game for a long time. The new user would get little or nothing out of the entire manual. The only redeeming value is in Chapter 15 where he lists a lot of online resources. I haven't checked them out, so I don't know how good many of them are, but at least it is a place to start. But, the crowning purpose of his whole ebook is found on the last page:

GET PAID NOW! BECOME A PROFIT MONSTER AFFILIATE!!!!

Strike Two!

Watching the videos. They are the key to the whole program. Yea, right.

You have three options. Watch a small video online, watch a large video online if you have broadband, or download the video and view with Quicktime.

Here is a screenshot of the small video. Pretty hard to read. Especially when you are my age and your eyes are not what they were twenty, thirty, or forty years ago. (I could go back further, but you get the point…)

So I tried the large version. Same crap, only unreadable at a larger size.

It turns out, he used a video cam and was taking pictures of the screen, rather than using a screen capture program such as Camtasia or a Mac equivalent.

These videos are total garbage, as is the content. It is all overused hyperbole that you have heard so many times that you know it by heart. There is really nothing new here that is of value to the new marketer. All of what he says is available online for free, if you just look for it.

 

 

Back to square one

Here is the actual headline from his website.

“Is it YOUR Turn to Start Making Thousands
Of Dollars Per Month using a System that
Virtually Runs 100% on Autopilot!?”

Make Money Online One Hour from Now!

He then goes on to say

I can say unequivocally that I will not be his next testimonial. At least not a good one.

This program is a waste of money, and a waste of the ink and paper I used to print it out.

If you see an email promoting The Profit Monster, just pass on it. It is not worth the money.

Thanks for reading.
This is Phoenix Rising telling it like it is.

 

Tags --Internet Marketing Ripoff The Bad The Internet The Ugly

Today I received two VERY DANGEROUS eMails

Spam is always a problem, but most spam is just a nuisance. Today, however, I received two messages I had to pass along to you. Opening or responding to either of these could prove hazardous to your computer or your financial health.

Message #1 - Anti-virus Update Notification

Wow, my computer might have a virus, I had better check this out.

WOA! That is the last thing you want to do. Here's why.

First, look at the subject line: Please update your Anti-Virus security settings as soon as possible. Seems simple enough, but wait a minute. If you have an anti virus program, it will automatically tell you, from within the program, when your avtivirus needs to be updated. It will never send you an email from an unknown source suggesting that you update.

Next, look at the return address: axxxxb@www.bxxxxxxx.info. Give me a break! bxxxxxxx.info (link has been deliberately broken)? Sounds to me like some mysterious den at some undisclosed location. It certainly doesn't sound like any place I want to go checking for email.

So Why is this so dangerous?

This is either a virus or a Trojan that wants access to your computer. By going to the website, you have opened a path to your computer so that malicious code can be installed that will bypass your current firewall, anti-virus, anti-keylogger, and any other anti- software you have installed. You have just entered the world of DOOM and you are the victim.

If you get an email like this, delete it immediately!

Message #2 - Approval Information for … (your email would go here)

Oh boy! I have been approved for a $10,000 credit line, and $1,500 cash to put in my bank account immediately!

Who wouldn't like to receive something like this?

Again, look at the subject line: Approval Information for … The approval is not in my name, it is in my email address. So, my email has been approved for $10,000 credit? Be serious. These people don't know me, why would they be offering me $10,000 credit?

Okay, who is it from? approvals_processor@bxxxxxxxxxx.com. Really? Who the h*!| is "approvals_processor"? I didn't apply for a credit line, so why are they offering me one? Then they offer to deposit $1,500 in my bank immediately. All I have to do is to send them all my persoanl information.

Woa! STOP!! Go No Further!

I smell a phish. (That's a phonetic way to spell fish, for you non-English folks). I smell a fish is an idiom that is used for something that smells bad. Phishing is a term used on the Internet for an attempt to get your personal information for the purpose of identity theft. Here's what happens.

1. You give them your personal information. Since this is a financial transaction they will need name, address, phone number, id number (Social Security Number in the US), bank name, bank address, account nuber, routing number or swift code, and possibly the bank phone number. You are now all set to receive the money–you think.
2. The thieves (this is really what they are) will then create checks with all your personal and banking information on them. The do this by purchasing special check paper (readily available) and special magnetic ink for their laser printer (again, readily available) so they can print all your bank information on the check so it looks official.
3. They write a check for a small amount, generally less than $100. Most people don't check their statements regularly, and a small withdrawal won't be noticed. Since the check is on official paper, with the magnetic coding at the bottom of the check, it goes through the bank's automatic processing machine and the money is subtracted from your account.\
4. They may then attempt to extract a large sum of money, or they may just hit you for a small amount each month. It could go for a long time without being noticed.
5. Finally, they will apply for credit cards, perhaps another bank account, and start using your identification to put you in very deep debt, resulting in loss of credit, perhaps the loss of your home, your job, your social standing, and in some cases your life.

This is not a pretty scenario.

If you get an email like this, delete it immediately!

Like I said in the beginning, these are two very dangerous emails.

Don't get burned. Be careful what you read and what emails you open. It's your life and your future that could be at stake.

Thanks for reading
This is Phoenix Rising, telling it like it is.

 

Tags --anti virus bank account credit credit card credit line Fraud free money identity theft Internet Marketing loan money phishing Ripoff scam spam The Bad The Internet The Ugly virus